In This Issue:
From the Editor
Geof Lory: From Process to Discipline
Site Highlights:
A Long Time Ago, In a Division Far, Far Away ...
Does This List Make My WIPs Look Big?
Are Those Voices In Your Head, or Mine?
The Worst Part Is Those Unsightly Claw Marks
When Is a Plan Not a Plan?
When It's a Schedule!
Where's ProjectConnections?
This month, Iowa, Toronto, Arizona, New York, Philly ...
Next month, Bermuda!
Corporate Subscriptions
From the Editor
Project portfolio management is full of difficult questions. Are these the right projects? Are they contributing enough value to the company? Whose idea was it to build a motorized ice cream cone with an ethernet adapter?
This week, we're highlighting a few of our best resources for answering these tough questions. These templates will walk you through the process of finding out who's doing what, why, and what they should be doing instead. Think of it as Spring cleaning for your project portfolio.
Featured Article
From Process to Discipline, by Geof Lory
The primary purpose of any team is to get work done in the most effective manner and achieve outcomes that add value. Ultimately, the result of the work is the value proposition and the interaction is just the means. But, so much of project management is about how the work gets done within the constraints of the project, not which work has been selected for the project. That is why there is so much focus on process-the flow of work and information within the project. There is a belief that if we improve the process, better work will get done faster and use less resources, which is the Holy Grail of Project Management. Read more »
Site Highlights
A Long Time Ago, In a Division Far, Far Away... - Portfolio Data Collection Letter - MEMBERIs your organization spending resources on long-forgotten projects, spawned like dust bunnies and forgotten just as quickly? Our simple sample letter will help you solicit input for a comprehensive list of the work currently underway or proposed in your organization. Think of it as a way to get an inventory list for your project work. You may find a black hole accumulating project resources you didn't even know existed, or a team that could be an incredible force for good if only someone knew they existed! Download the template »
Does This List Make My WIPs Look Big? - Scored and Ranked Project List for Portfolio Management - SPECIAL
This Premium resource is free to registered Members until April 16, 2008
A minute on the lips, forever on the WIPs... no matter how unimportant it is to your organization's ultimate goals. If you're angling for a project diet of more modest girth, try this simple method of scoring projects against the organization's strategic goals. This spreadsheet encourages your group to weigh what really matters to your organization -- the business drivers -- and see how each project stacks up against them. See how many empty calories are stuffing your portfolio. Download the template »
Are Those Voices In Your Head, Or Mine? - PMP Exam Study Group Guidelines - MEMBER
Studying for the PMP exam is crazy-making enough without having to do it alone. The Women in Project Management (WiPM) SIG recognized this, and put together these guidelines so they could improve their PMP study experience with a structured schedule, peer group support, and wisdom and assistance from project managers who have already passed the exam. It defines who is involved, commitment levels, study buddies, and a schedule for week-by-week study. It hews to a previous version of the PMBOK, but the general study outline is still applicable, and serves as an excellent model, besides. Read the guideline »
The Worst Part Is Those Unsightly Claw Marks - Paper: Role of Executives in Portfolio Management - MEMBER
Trouble prying the day-to-day decisions away from your executives? Coach them off of ground level and back up to the 10,000-foot view with this presentation from K.C. Yelin of the ICS Group. In it, she provides valuable insights for PMs struggling with delegation-challenged execs. Drawing parallels to financial portfolio management, she discusses how to adapt the best features of that model to project portfolio management. Read the paper »
When Is a Plan Not a Plan? - Development Project Plan - PREMIUM
When it's a schedule! One of the most common requests we get here is for "sample project plans," and often it takes some investigation to figure out whether the requestor was after a full plan, or just a schedule. To our way of thinking, the schedule is only one small portion of the overall plan that's going to help your team get the project done. So to illustrate the difference, we thought we'd share this example of what we mean when we ask, "do you mean a plan, or just a schedule?" This 9-page, fully-annotated plan for a development project goes beyond who will do what and when, and delves into the how and why that's key to getting real buy-in. Download the template »
Schedule This! (We Dare You!) - WBS & Gantt for USB Development Schedule - SPECIAL
This Premium resource is free to registered Members until April 16, 2008
On the other hand, sometimes a schedule is exactly what you're looking for. This particular example provides one that crosses all boundaries: it's an example of an early cross-functional development schedule for a dependent project. A subsection of the 802.11 Master Development Schedule, this preliminary design schedule was created during project initiation and provides a model for structuring these early schedules, as well as inspiration for appropriate levels of planning detail during the early phases of a project. Download the schedule »
Where's ProjectConnections?
When they're not writing for ProjectConnections, our expert contributors and columnists keep a pretty busy calendar. The following appearances are not associated with ProjectConnections, but we think you ought to know about them anyway. These folks are worth hearing.ProjectConnections President and CEO Cinda Voegtli is out and about in April. In addition to appearing as a guest lecturer for the UC Berkeley Hass School of Business on April 14 ("Successfully Implementing Project Management in an Organization"), she'll be leading two half-day workshops—"Becoming Great Project Managers" and "The Business-Savvy Project Manager"—at IEEE ProCon in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on April 29.
Agile proponent Kent McDonald will be demonstrating his devotion to the cause in a pair of presentations on April 15: Agile Project Leadership Network NYC at 8:30 a.m., and Agile Philly at 6:30 p.m. In keeping with the spirit of agile development, he'll be speaking on his "newest favorite topic" at both events: "Helping Product Owners Define Value and Prioritize Requirements." You can also see him at the Better Software Conference in Las Vegas from June 9-12.
Alan Koch, our resident Quality advocate, can be found in Toronto April 14-18 at Project World Canada. His tutorial and track presentation are both titled "BA (Business Analysis) Tools of the Trade: Process Modeling Techniques."
Kimberly Wiefling will be at the Silicon Valley Indian Professional's Organization on April 16, which will be a great opportunity to see her for a bit. But if you want an intense dose of Kimberly's go-get-em brand of power-ade, think about attending her Creating a Vision for Your Future workshop on April 19 in Redwood City, California.
Risk guru Carl Pritchard is living up to his billing with Risk Management courses at PMI SeminarsWorld April 24-25 (Scottsdale Hilton Resort) and PMI MegaSeminarsWorld in Orlando on June 25-26. He'll provide a Breakfast Keynote Address in Orlando as well. Information and registration for both events can be found on the PMI website. For a slightly more exotic setting, consider the PMI New Jersey Seminars At Sea, May 17-22. Carl will be conducting an 8 PDU seminar on "How to Be a Great Consultant" when he's not lounging on deck. (Hey, we would be!)
Randy Englund presents "Managing Project Sponsorship" on Thursday, April 24th in Dublin, California for the East Bay IT Group Project Management SIG. If you're trying to figure out how to make this whole sponsorship thing work, club your sponsor over the head and drag them here. If you're the sponsor, club yourself over the head and drag your project manager here. (Metaphorically speaking of course. We don't actually recommend hitting your sponsor over the head with anything—it tends to cut into your budget.) Randy will also be in Houston at the end of the month, presenting "Improving Your Project Management Skills: The Basics for Success" for the American Management Association from April 30-May 2.
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